In a conventional brake control apparatus, an ineffective stroke in a brake caliper, for example, a gap between a brake pad and a disc rotor, can be eliminated beforehand by applying pressurizing force to the brake pad (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. HEI 10-157585).
In this brake control apparatus, a wheel cylinder (hereinafter, referred to as “W/C”) provided separately for each tire wheel is pre-charged with a pressure (W/C pressure) in accordance with the releasing speed of the accelerator pedal so as to substantially eliminate the ineffective stroke in the brake caliper prior to engagement of the brake. Therefore, when a brake engaging mode is entered, braking force is promptly generated.
However, since the pre-charge of W/C pressure is performed in accordance with the releasing speed of the accelerator pedal, the aforementioned conventional brake control apparatus has the following drawbacks. That is, if a need for brake engagement suddenly arises, for example, in a case where the accelerator pedal is slowly being released or a case where the accelerator pedal has been in an undepressed state, the ineffective stroke in the brake caliper cannot be eliminated beforehand, and therefore the prompt generation of braking force cannot be achieved.
Furthermore, since the conventional brake control apparatus performs the pre-charge of W/C pressure on the basis of the releasing speed of the accelerator pedal alone, the pre-charge is executed irrespectively of surrounding environments, that is, may be executed even when the pre-charge is not needed. Therefore, uncomfortable brake feeling may be caused to a driver.